Tono brilliant in triumph over lowly BayStars

Shun Tono pitched eight scoreless innings to lead the way as the Central League-leading Yomiuri Giants shut out the Yokohama BayStars 4-0 on Wednesday.

Tono (6-6) scattered three hits, struck out six and walked two. Daisuke Miura (9-8) took the loss.

Michihiro Ogasawara opened the scoring with a two-out, two-run single in the third and Shigeyuki Furuki added a two-run single one inning later at Tokyo Dome. Cellar-dweller Yokohama suffered its 18th shutout defeat of the season.

Swallows 4, Tigers 2

At Jingu Stadium, Kazuki Fukuchi had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly as Yakult came from behind in a three-run seventh inning en route to beating Hanshin.

Yoshiyuki Noguchi singled to leadoff the seventh and Minoru Iwata (2-3) loaded the bases before Keizo Kawashima tied the game at 2-2 when he was hit by a pitch followed by Fukuchi’s sac fly to right. Another run scored on Iwata’s wild pitch.